Welted knit fabric and art of knitting the same.



R. w. SCOTT. WELTED KNIT FABRIC AND ART OF KNITTING 'THE SAME.

Patented July 25, 1916.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 22, 1914- I a A m" a l n J H I w Q E J. ca a I F n. w. SCOTT. V WELTED KNIT FABRIC AND ART OF KNITTING THE SAME.

7 APPLICATION FILED OCT. 22, IBM. 1 ',1 92,801. I r Patented July 25, 1916.

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ROBERT W. SCOTT, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOB TO SCOTT & WILLIAMS,

INCORPORATED, 013 CAMDEN, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

WELTED KNIT FABRIC AND ARTOF KNITTING THE SAME.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 25, 1916.

Application filed October 22, 1914. Serial No. 868,110.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, ROBERT W. Soo'r'r, citizen of the United States, and resident of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in VVelted Knit Fabrics and Art of Knitting the Same, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to knit fabrics hav-v ing Welts or hems and especially to plainknit articles having integral out-turned welts and cuffs or tops of the general character illustrated in my Letters Patent No. 1,071,100 dated August 26, 1913.

One object of my invention is to provide an improved article of this class having a welt of a comparatively close texture attachedto the remainder of the article in an improved manner.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a side view'of a womans stocking embodying the invention; Fig. .Zis an enlarged diagram giving an outer or face view of the welt, the top, and the juncture of the top and body of such a stocking; Figs. 3 and a are diagram plans of a segment of the needles illustrating the formation of the first and second courses of one article; Fig. 5 is a similar view at the end of the first few courses of the welt; Fig. 6 is a similar view illustrating the position of the terminal courses of the welt and the withheld loops prior to the formation of the uniting course; Fig. 7 is a similar View illustrating the production of the top; and Fig. 8 is a similar view illustrating the first course of the leg.

The improved article may be composed of flat or tubular fabric. In one instance, I may provide an integral 'welt W, and top T for a circular knit or seamless stocking such as shown in Fig. 1, having a leg L and a foot F, and a heel and toe of the usual form, the leg L consisting of fabric of any desired number (which may be that of all of the needles in a machine hereinafter termed a full number) of needle-wales in width, the top T having therein fewer needle-wales, and the welt W comprising the same number of needle-Wales as the top, to insure the desired texture. As illustrated, the latter number may be two-thirds the full number of needle-wales in the leg L. v

In the illustrative instance as shown the top T is provided at every third wale a with a dropped or missed stitch line caused by failure to knit in that Wale, the yarns between the needle-wales on either side of the wale a floating unknit, as shown at h. The fabric at the top thus comprises solid sections of adjacent wales a and b of plain knit fabric which may be two or more needle-wales in width.

The preferred instrument of manufacture is a circular knitting machine knitting a tubular fabric, although any machine may be employed comprising a series of instruments, such as latch needles of three or more lntercalated series a, a and b capable of being operated, or capable of having yarns 1 manipulated upon them, or standing in relation to instruments operating respectively so as to knit at needles (1 during a number of courses in succession; so as either to knit or to cast off loops of a previous course at desired points in the fabric at needles 0L; and so as to knit or to withhold loops Without knitting at desired times in the operation at needles I), said needles I) then being in a position permitting fabric to be formed on and cast off of the needles of the other series.

Referring now to Fig. 3, yarn of initial course 1 is first applied in the hooks of needles a and needles 6, needles a not being supplied with yarn. Said course 1 may be a yarn fed to previously bare needles at the beginning of the operation, or said course may be any course in an extent of fabric, such for instance as a-course formed after the completion of one article blank in a string work of such blanks. In the latter case, the needles a preferably are empty, as by having operated them to cast off in a previous course.

Yarn. of course 2 is now applied to the needles a and a, the needles (1 when given the yarn standing in front of the yarn of the previous course, the bights w taken by the first course, and behind which the yarn of the first course was passed, loops of course 2 are now drawn at 00 upon the front side of the yarn of course 1. The yarn of course 1 is now cast off at needles wupon the loops as of course 2, thus initiating wales at needles a in said course 2; needles I) continuing to hold in their hooks withheld bights w of course 1. a

Fabric for the welt is now knit upon needles 6 and a only, in continuation of loops as and -of loops w, needles I) continuing to hold their bights w as illustrated in Fig. 5.. I

Upon completion of sufficient fabric knit in the wales a and a only for both the inner and outer parts of the welt,'as when the course 28 shown in the drawings has been formed, I join the first course 'of the welt to the body of the fabric by restoring to operation the needles holding the bights 'w to form a uniting course Z knit on the full number of needles, which course has loops .2 .2 in the wales a, a penetrating all of the terminal loops of the welt fabric in the course 28 and loops 2 penetrating all of the bights w withheld from the course 2.

In order to make the top T of fabric having therein dropped or missed stitch lines, it is necessary to provide against running back or raveling only in those wales essential to holdingthe welt attached to the fabric ,of the top, which are the wales 6 containing the loops 2 engaging the bightsw by which the face wall of the welt is attached, and a suflicient number of the wales of the back wall of the welt to preserve itseontinuity *witlnthe fabric of the top T. If the loops y in wales a of course 28 and all of the loops 2 are prevented from dropping, for instance, the loops 3 need not be locked, since if released the only efl'ect will be to make ladders or runs in the wales a, extending as far as the fold at the top of the welt.

- Having provided standing wales a continuous through the welt and top, I may therefore.v freely drop off their needles, to

form drop-stitch lines, such a number of loops 1n other running wales a not occurring in the same wales as .the loops w or the loops 3 as will secure the desired fab-v rie' for the'top T. I may drop the loops y at course 28, or following the loop in'course Z, but as illustrated in Fig. 2, I prefer to prevent the Wale containing the dropped stitches from running back by first forming a section of fabric S of a few courses knit at the full number of needles and containing withheld stitches z in wales b, knit loops in wales a, and one'or more lmit loops 2 e followingthe loops y in wales a. The stitches in the wales a. are then dropped.

When I refer to dropping the loops in the wales a, it will be understood that this may be done in any manner, as by causing the needles a to .jbe retired completely, after casting their loops, or said needles may be operated so as to take yarn and cast off at each course, without knitting. Knitting for fabric T in wales aand b is now completed,

knitting in the wales a being resumed for the leg L, the heel, foot and toe.

The operations described for courses 1 and 2 resulted in the formation of a selvage similar to that shown in my Letters Patent No. 1,045,621 November 26, 1912 and my Letters Patent N 0. 1,071,100, as well as re tainin'g from course 1 of said selvage bights w to be engaged bya uniting course to retain the fabric following the selvage on the face of later formed fabric.

The device of the withheld loops 2, engaging the said bights 10 provides for the distribution of the strain of retaining the edge of the Welt between the course Z and the subsequently formed course 32, as will be evident from Fig. 2.

The withheld loops 2; also permit the strain of retaining the welt to be removed from the knit stitches in the wales a, permitting said knit stitches, ending freely at the loops 2 to be relieved from any strain tending to start raveling in said wales a.

By forming aselvage in the indicated manner, I am enabled to produce welt fabric and top fabric T of the same texture, comprising in the example shown two knit wales "flanked by a mis-stitched line. The mis-stitehed line 72. in the top fabric corresponds to a knit Wale in the welt fabric, while the mis-stitched line in the welt corresponds to a knit wale in the top fabric.

hen used in the situation shown, for the top and end finish of a womans stocking, fabric W and T made according to my invention provides an end finish and top which may be made relatively wide with respect to the fabric of the leg L by suitable selection of the kind of yarn and the dimen- SlOIlS of the knit stitches, without the'necessity for making said fabric so slack as to deprive it of durability and other desirable qualities.

I do not herein claim the genus common to thlsapplication and to my application Serial No. 852,895 filed July 24, 1914.

What I claim is:

1. In a knit fabric, an integra top and welt each of fabric containing mls-stitched hues, and each having the same number of needlevwales, some only of the needle wales of the welt being in line with the mis- 'stitched lines of the top, and other wales being continuous through bothfabrics.

2. A knit fabric having a welt comprising adjacent needle wales'separated by Wales of un-knit yarn, certain needle wales of the welt continuing into adjacent fabric of the same texture, certain wales of said adjacent fabric comprising course of the welt.

3. A knit fabric having a welt comprising adjacent needle wales separated by wales of loops engaging the initial having certain wales continuous at structure for locking the cast-off loops from raveling and including loops engaging the initial course of the welt.

5. A knit article having an integral welt in which there are wales of knit loops continuing into the adjacent part of the article; some of said wales being standing wales continuous with solid knit adjacent fabric and some being wales terminating in dropped stitches, said adjacent fabric having a Wale initiated by a withheld loop engaging an initial course of the welt.

6. In a knit fabric, an integral knit welt united at one end to the adjacent fabric and the other end with the wales .of said adjacent fabric,

the intervening wales of said welt fabric ter-.

minating in stitches dropped in the adjacent fabric, and means to prevent said stitches from raveling comprising loops of a course for uniting the welt withheld during knitting in other wales.

7 The art of knitting fabrics on a series of instruments, comprising forming a selvage by engaging rent like groups of instruments, missing an intervening instrument, engaging a second yarn at like recurrent groups including the missed instruments, and missing instruments of the first-mentioned groups; retaining the yarn at those instruments of the firstmentioned groups missed yarn, then casting off said initial yarn at all the other instruments engaging it, whereby said second yarn is drawn into loops on 1 at the an initial yarn at recurby said second either side of said initial yarn, and thereafter knitting in continuation of said loops. 8. The art of knitting fabrics having in tegral welts and attached sections of the same texture on a series of instruments, comprising forming' a selvage by engaging an initial yarn at recurrent like groups of instruments, missing an intervening instrument, engaging a second yarn at like recurrent groups including the missed instruments, and missing instruments of the firstmentioned group's; retaining the yarn at those instruments of the first mentioned groups missed by said second yarn, then casting off said initial yarn at all the other instruments engaging 1t, whereby said second yarn is drawn into loops on either side of said initial yarn, and thereafter knitting in continuation of said loops, welt fabric having missed stitch lines at the location of the instruments missed by said second yarn; thereafter knitting an uniting course at all of said instruments; then dropping stitches instruments missed by said initial yarn, and knitting at the remaining instruments.

9. The art of knitting fabric on a series of instruments comprising laying an initial yarn ments, causing said yarn to pass behind intervening instruments; then laying a second yarn on recurrent groups of instruments comprising said intervening instruments, and causing said yarn to pass behind mem- -.bers of the groups of instruments supplieddrawing said second yarn with initial yarn; into loops passing recurrently on each s1de of said initial yarn, and thereafter knitting fabric having needle wales in continuation of said' loops.

on recurrent groups of adjacent instru- In testimony whereof, I'have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ROBERT W. SCOTT.

n Witnesses:

W. J. HAGIaRTY, M. M. McKA r. 

